Media streaming applications that stream media from a wireless communication device over a wireless network can suffer from stall conditions in which media packets become stalled in a baseband queue and cannot be transmitted from the wireless communication device. As a result of a stall condition, rate control mechanisms can quickly ramp down a rate at which media packets are generated and/or transmitted. After recovery from the stall condition, a slow ramp up period can occur in which media packet transmission rate can slowly recover to the pre-stall condition. The stall and slow ramp up period can accordingly negatively impact user experience.
In some instances, a stall condition can result from degradation of a network channel condition, such as a wireless channel by which the wireless communication device can be connected to a cellular base station or other wireless network access point. In such instances, it can be appropriate to enter a slow ramp up period following recovery from the stall condition. In this regard, slow ramp up can be used to avoid flooding a potentially bad network connection with a larger volume of packets than the network connection is capable of handling.
However, in some instances, a stall condition can be caused by an event other than degradation of a network channel condition. For example, in some instances, a stall condition can be caused by a device changing transmission channels. In this regard, some wireless communication devices have multiple transmission channels and can switch transmission channels during an active streaming media session in order to use a channel with better conditions. In instances in which a transmission channel change is performed, a network channel condition may not have degraded. As such, using standard rate control mechanisms that implement a slow ramp up period following a stall condition resulting from a transmission channel change can unnecessarily degrade user experience for an extended period following the stall condition.